Draft-rigging for railway-cars.



I, F. GCONNOR.

DRAF-T RlGGlNG FOR RAILWAY CARS,

APPLICATION FILED APR.14. 1916.

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T ATTORNEY 1. wwwa. DRAFT RIGGIN'G FOR RAlLWA CARS. APPLICATION FILED APR.14,1916.

Patened Dec. 24, 1918.

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INVENTOR. JMEW# maar W I TNESSES:

1 @ATTORNEY 1. F. OCONNGR. DRAFT mGGlNG FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I4. 1916.

Patented Dee. 24,1918.

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1 @Tram/EY j To all whom t may concern.'

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. JOHN r. o'comron, or cnicneo, rLLiNois, Assienon rro WILLIAM n. Minna, or

' cHAzY, NEW Yoan.

DRAFT-.mesme ron RAILWAY-cans.

Specification of Letters Patent.4 )Patented D86, 24 1918,

Application filed April 1a, 1916. Serial No. 91,208.

Be it known that I, JorrN F. OCONNOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have `invented a certain. new and useful Improvement in Draft-Rigging for Railway-Cars, full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in draft rigging for railway cars.

The object of my invention is to provide a draft rigging of high capacity and simple construction. v In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view, partly in top plan, of a draft rigging embodying my invention. In this figure the compression resisting springs are in twin arrangement. tional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of yoke. And Fig. l is a cross sectional view of said yoke and adjacent parts of the draft rigging mounted between draft sills. Fig. 5 illustrates in cross section a further modification showing the springs in a quadruple arrangement. spective View of a follower adapted to be employed with the modied form of structure shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 illustrates a modification in lwhich the springs are in twin tandem arrangement. Fig. 8 is a cross. sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a perspective View of 'a follower adapted to ybe used with the modification illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8.

Referring to the drawings, I will first de scribe my invention as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The numerals 10-10 designate draft members or parts of the car frame to which the draft rigging is applied, 11-11 front stop members, 12-#12 rear stop members, all suitably secured to the draft members, 13 the draw-bar, only the rear-portion thereof being shown-in the drawing, and 14 l'a tie plate secured 'by suitable means, preferably the bolts 15-15 to the draft members and adapted to support the draft gear 16. The draft gear 16 comprises the front followers 17-17 and the rear` followers 18-18, with compression resisting members as the springs 19-19 mounted between them. The draft of which the following 1s a f Fig. 2 is a cross sec- Fig. 6 1s a perl ear 16 is connected to thevdraw-bar 13 by means of a yoke 20, the said yoke is provided at its forward end with a transverse plate 21 to which are secured forwardly extended preferably inte-gral spaced apart arms 22-22 suitably perforated as at 23 for A ythe passage of the coupler key 24 which secures the draw-bar between the two arms 22-22. Rearwardlyl extended fromy the plate 21 is the leg 25 of the yoke which in preferable construction is near the bottom curved outwardly on either side as at 26-26 in Fig. 2 to conform to the adjacent springs 19. At its rear end the'leg 25 is provided with the transverse plate 27 which is preferably integral, the same in preferable cons struction having the strengthening ribs 28-28 thereon. The front followers 17--17A are arranged one on either side of the leg 25 of the yoke Each follower comprises the transverse plate 29 against theinner face of which a spring is seated and a longitudinal preferably integral plate 30, the outer face 31 of which engages the inner face of the adjacent draft member 10 and is adapted to slide thereon. The member 30 of each follower is on its inner face 32 conformed in shape to the adjacent spring19. The rear followers 18-18 are arranged one on either sidey of the leg 25 of the yoke, each being the Acounterpart of the front follower upon the same side of the leg -of the yokeand requiring no further description. The axis of each of the springs 19 is indicated by the dotted lines 33 in Fig. will be observed that the plate 21 at the forward. end of the leg of the yoke and the plate' 27 at the rear end of said leg each eX- tends laterally toward the draft members to points beyond the axes of said springs. The front followers 1,7 and rear followers 18 are sufficiently spaced apart las indicated at the numerals 34-34 in Fig. 1 to permit the compression of the springs until the front set Jf followers come into engagement with the rear set of followers, such engagement serving to limit the compression of the springs and to prevent their setting.

From the foregoing description the operation of the draft rigging will be understood, it being clear that on rearward movement of the draw-bar the transverse mem- .ber 21 of the yoke 20 forces the front followers rearwardly, the sidestof the followers sliding `against the adjacent'inner faces 1 of the drawings, and it ofthe draft members, the springs resisting vtheir rearward movement until the frontv followers come into engagement with the rear followers. Meanwhile the yokel 20 slides rearwardly upon the tie plate 14 and the rear followers are held against movement by the rear stop membersy 12. n forward movement'of the draw-bar'the front followers are held in stationary position .by

the front stop members, the yoke drawsthe rear followers forwardlyA thereby compressing the springs until vthe rear followers engage against the front followers. It will hbe observedthatthe four followers are iden.-

tical in shape and interchangeable. "For instance: a left handf'follo'wer ymay be converted into aright hand follower by turning the same upside down, the same follower can be converted into a right hand rear follower by turning 'it otherend about and the same follower can be converted into a left handrear follower by turning it otherend about and upside down. Thus replacement of parts is easy, and only a small stock need be carried. The split fronti and -rear fol-A f lowers, that is, withl the leg of the yoke passing between right and left hand followers permits the ready ad]ustability and vfull eliciency o f the gear on lateral movement ofthe drawbar as when 'a train is opyerating upon a 'curved track. It is also evident that the draft gear is very compact and A can be mounted and dismounted readily and can be used with draft members of a minimum vertical height.

' @In Figs. 3 and 4 a modified form of yokel is shown the yoke being designated by the numeral 40. At its forward end it is provided with the tran'sverseplate 4l having the perforatedv spaced apart vforwardly eX-A- tending preferably integral arms 42--42 b etween which the drawbar is received, a. rearwardly extending leg 43 provided at its rearend with a transverse plate 44 the front and' rear transverse plates of the yoke lbeing adapted to engage front and rear sets of followers, each set having a follower on ,either side of the-leg of the yoke, said leg being provided on either side with aconcavvity 45 conformed to the springs 46--46, the

said leg being substantially X shaped in cross seetionas shown in Fig. 4, and being' mounted as in the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. l and 2, between the draft members 47-47, and being supported together with the draft gear by the tie messes above the other, the yoke leg being provided on either side with upper and lower conlcavities 52-52 to conform each to its adjai cent spring, the whole being mounted as 'in the other .forms illustrated by the drawings between the draft members 53-53, the draft gearing being supported by the tie plate 54 and each follower comprising the transverse plate 55 and the longitudinal plate 56, pref- 60h60 indicate the draft members, 61-61- stop vmembers which in the drawings are illustrated as side castings or cheek plateshaving the front stop shoulders 62-62, the

'front intermediate stop shoulders E53-63,

the rear intermediate stop shoulders 64-64 and the rear stop shoulders 65-65. Thev particular arrangement of partsillustrating this modification is that ofa twin' tandem gear. In this arrangement the yoke 66 is provided with a leg 67 which lhas interv-riediate the front'transverse plate 68 and the i i rear 'transverse plate. 69, a central preferably block like stop 70 adapted to compress the rear gear 71 on rearward movement and the front gear4 72 on forward movement.

The yoke is provided Awith the spaced apart legs 7 3-73 at its forward end to receive the drawbar 74 which is secured thereto by the coupler key 75. The followers are eight in number and' are arranged in sets of two, each set comprising a follower upon either side of the leg, of the yoke. of followers is indicated by the numerals I6-'76, the frnt intermediateset by the numerals 77-77, the rear-V intermediate set by. the numerals 7 8-7 8 and the rear set by the numerals 79-79. trated in this modification, as in all of those shown inthe accompanying drawings are of a general L shape, each having the transverse plate 80 against which a spring may be seated and the'side plate 81 adapted to slide longitudinally upon the vadjacent draft member. `The eight followers are identical in'shape and each by turning to its suitable position can be used in any set of followers The front set,

it; l,

The followers illusand on either side of the leg of the yoke.

Betweenreach front and front intermediate follower is mounted a compression resisting member preferably an outer spring 83 and an inner spring' 84 nested therein. The springs are seated at their ends against the followers yand over-compression of the same 1 is prevented through the engagement of an end set' of followers against an lintermediate set of followers, the spaces shown at the numerals .85-85 between front and rear4 sets of followers of each gear being suitable to permit'the compression of the springs to l in Fig. 7 rides 'transverse member of the yoke forces the rear followers 79 forwardly a point-short oftheir permanent set.

- and rear -followers meeste The front and rear gears are each supported by means of tie plates 87-87 which are suit ably secured to the draft members as by the bolts 88. The yoke as most clearly shown upon the tie plates. In forward movement of the drawbar the yoke is `drawn forwardly, the rear intermediate followers being stopped by the rear interseats engaging the outer mediate stop shoulders 64, and the rear against the resistance of the rear set of springs until the rear followers engage the rear intermediate followers. Meanwhile the front followers are stopped by the front st'op shoulders 62 and the front intermediate followers are drawn forwardly by the intermediate member 7 0 of the yoke, their forward movement being resisted by the front set of springs and stopped upon the engagement of the front intermediate followers against the front followers. The operation of the parts is'similar .on rearward movement of the drawbar. In this movement the front intermediate .being stopped by the I' front intermediate shoulders and the rear shoulders respectively while the spring resisted. front followers are forced rearwardly bythe transverse member (S8-of the yoke and the rear intermediate followers are leg, said leg having forced rearwardly against the rear springs by the intermediate member I claim:

1. In a draft rigging, the combination with a yoke having a single leg extending rearwardly from the front end thereof, said 70 of the yoke.

leg having curved spring seats on each side thereof, of springs extending parallel with said yoke, and followers having also spring portions of the springs.

2. In a draft rigging, the combination with draft sills, stop-acting means, and a draw bar, of a yoke operatively connected to the draw bar, said yoke having a single longitudinally extending, centrally disposed spring seats on each side thereof, 4a plurality of springs extending parallel with the leg -oflsaid yoke and cooperable with said seats, and a follower at eachend of each spring, each follower having a transversely extending portion, and a longitudinally extending wall overlapping the corresponding spring, the longitudinally extending walls of the followers coperatingl with the spring seats of the yoke to maintain the springs in proper position. 

